Programs, clippings, flyers, correspondence, articles, news releases, competition schedules, competition results, advertising
pamphlets, graphic design documents, and notebooks documenting the Gay Games (formerly the Gay Athletic Games), an athletic
event founded in 1982 by Tom Waddell and held in various locations in the United States and abroad at four year intervals
between 1982 and 2010.

Background

The Gay Games was an athletic event and festival first held in San Francisco between August 28 and September 5,1982. The event
was founded by Tom Waddell, and it was first referred to as the Gay Olympics as it was modeled after the international Olympic
Games. Controversy surrounding the event began when the U.S. Olympic Committee filed a legal injunction that succeeded in
preventing use of the word "Olympic" as part of its name. As a result, it was known as the Gay Athletic Games that first year.
Four years after the Gay Athletic Games were held in San Francisco, the Gay Games continued the tradition of a gay athletic
competitions and festivals held, like the Olympics, in different cities at four-year intervals.